PODCAST
The Dark of Despair
April 24th, 2018
1 Kings 17:17-24
Sometimes life is a roller coaster. Sometimes it seems like circumstances go from bad to worse, just when things were beginning to look up. In those moments of challenge and suffering, we are tempted to despair.
That is what happened to the widow in today’s passage. They had lived a hard life in the midst of a prolonged drought. Then things went from bad to worse when the widow’s son died. She was tempted to despair.
Despair is a terrible thing. It’s a place where we honestly do no think things will get any better; where we have lost all hope. The darkness of despair is a terrible place to live.
It’s also exactly the kind of place to which the Word of the Lord speaks life. For the widow, God’s Word came through the prophet and her son lived. For us, the Word comes through Jesus, who came, lived, and suffered just as we do. The Word brings light in the darkness, life in the face of death. On difficult days in the midst of difficult seasons, may we mourn in our suffering, but never despair. May the living Word bring resurrection life to you this day!
Author: Mark Hendrickson
